MIDLAND A frustrating road trip last week saw West Texas FC come away without a victory in National Premier Soccer League action.
The team was forced to settle for a 2-2 draw against Brownsville FC on Thursday before losing to the Laredo Heat 2-0 on Saturday.
West Texas FC, which sits in fourth place in the Lone Star Conference with seven points at 2-1-2, will be hoping for a better showing this week with another road game against the Fort Worth Vaqueros at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at W.O. Barnes Stadium.
“I’m a little disappointed,” West Texas FC head coach David Ormiston said. “I think with both games, we were in control for the most of the games. We were creating the most chances. but at the end of the day, we couldn’t finish. There were positives to take from it. We were playing two of the best teams in the conference. Every year, Laredo and Brownsville are up there. They’re not easy places to play at, but we went there and created the most chances of the game. We just couldn’t find the back of the net. There were positives to take from that as well.”
Laredo remains in second in the Lone Star Conference with 10 points, just one behind Denton.
Brownsville sits in third, tied with West Texas FC with seven points.
>> CONTROVERSY: Thursday’s draw wasn’t without its problems.
A late goal from Brownsville’s Brayan Padilla snatched a victory away from West Texas in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Ormiston wasn’t happy about the amount of extra time that was given.
“They scored their goal in the 96thminute when we were told that there would be four minutes of added time,” Ormiston said. “They should’ve had a red card that was sent back … It was that kind of environment that you expect when you go down there. It’s frustrating, but we remain positive because we know that we’ll play them again and we know we can get the better of them.”
Goals from Antoine Marques and Vander Rocha gave West Texas FC a 2-1 lead in the first half after Brownsville scored an early goal from Hiromasa Iwai.
“It’s always hard going to Brownsville and it’s a little frustrating with how it went, but at the end of the day, that’s on us,” Ormiston said. “We should’ve taken our chances. If we take our chances, or just a handful of them, then we win that game 4-1. Then, you leave it in the hands of some dubious decisions.”
>> NOT MUCH EASIER: Playing its second game in two days, West Texas FC couldn’t come away with a goal in its two-goal loss to Laredo on Saturday.
Two second half goals from Laredo ended up making the difference as Ormiston thought his team had the better opportunities.
“I think on the whole, we could’ve won that game,” Ormiston said. “With the amount of clear-cut chances, it was ours for the taking but we didn’t take it and Laredo has good players that will punish you if you don’t take your chances. We had a couple of guys get injured in the game. That’s what happens when you’re playing two games in 48 hours. We don’t want to make excuses, but it all adds up at the end of the day.”
Ormiston doesn’t think the negativity from Thursday’s late draw was the reason for his team’s performance on Saturday.
“We take everything one game at a time,” Ormiston said. “We don’t want to make excuses because with the Laredo game, they’re a top team. They’re well-coached. They have really good players that will punish you.”
>> ON THE ROAD AGAIN: This week’s game will offer West Texas a chance to get back in the winning column as the team faces a Fort Worth squad that’s currently in last place in the Lone Star Conference at 0-2-3 with two points.
“It’s another road trip,” Ormiston said. “It’s going to be another tough place to play. We just have to play our game and use it as a bounce back. We’re going to be getting after it this week.”
The Vaqueros are coming off a 4-0 loss to Lubbock this past Saturday.
Ormiston is confident that the best is yet to come from his squad.
“We’re going towards a peak,” Ormiston said. “We’re still on the up and up. I think once we hit that, we’ll hit it at the right time of the season. You don’t want to peak too early. I think we’re going at a good pace. It would’ve been nice to get a win from last week, but you can see from our performance that we’re in the right direction.”
